Our team
Local Food Links is run by an enthusiastic and 100% committed team of people – here they are
Adam Smith - Chief Executive
Adam became Chief Executive of Local Food Links in May 2010, he’s passionate about Dorset and local food, and has a young daughter to keep him busy the rest of the time.
Adam spent 20 years in the finance and retail sectors before taking a more entrepreneurial direction, and now runs a growing business in North Dorset.
Julie Sheppard - Chair
Julie Sheppard is a communications professional with over 20 years’ experience of working in government, the NHS, the not-for-profit sector, television journalism and independent consultancy.
As Head of Public Affairs at the Food Standards Agency (2002-8) she supported public health initiatives such as the award-winning salt reduction campaign, and she also led campaigns on food and health at Consumers’ Association (now Which?) - Europe’s largest consumer organisation.
Caroline Morgan - Assistant Director
Caroline has worked with Local Food Links since September 2006. She has always loved good food, and with a degree in French and Catering Management she says “my ideal job would be to open the Paris branch of Local Food Links!” Her three children hope she’ll be taking them along for the ride…
Kathy Nicholls - Administrator
Kathy is Bridport born and bred and studied hairdressing and beauty at Weymouth College. Once her two children had started school, Kathy worked at Bella's Sandwich Bar for four years before coming to Local Food Links to help with soup making one day a week. Four years later, Kathy is our Administrator and the voice at the end of the phone to help with any queries.
Gillian Reynolds - Catering Manager
Gillian has loved cooking since she was a small child – she still has her very first cookery book. Today, having worked as a chef in hotels and restaurants in the south of France as well as Dorset, she’s proud to be able to encourage children to try different foods – “seeing them enjoy it is better still!”
Suzie King
Community Development Worker - Older People
Suzie joined Local Food Links in April 2010 after a year of looking after her new daughter. Her background is in helping supported housing groups set up new services, both capital and revenue. She’s a fan of cooking, particularly Jamie Oliver’s no-nonsense recipes.
Rachael Kershaw
Finance Manager
Rachael has been at Local Food Links since September 2009. When she’s not managing the company finances she manages two children, plays netball for Bridport and is a keen traveller – her aim is to visit every capital city in Europe.
Paula White
Finance Assistant
Paula was a parent volunteer on a pilot scheme serving soup lunches at Bridport Primary School before she started working with Local Food Links in 2006. She has two children, who still love soup.
Bridport kitchen
Sheryl Hunt, Kitchen Manager
“I really enjoy cooking and am very passionate about and proud to work for Local Food Links.”
Sheryl has been in catering for 32 years, working in kitchens at hospitals, businesses and in schools. Sheryl is a stickler for high standards and plays a vital role in organising staff, ordering produce, and keeping staff working to a tight schedule to produce around 3500 meals a week.
Tracey Lavis, Cook
Tracy has moved up through the kitchen - starting as a General Assistant, she is now is responsible for the production of all our desserts. Tracy is a qualified butcher, and her vast knowledge of meat helps our sourcing immensely. She has been involved in Farmers Markets and Slow Food organisations and is always ready to suggest new possibilities for our menus.
Jenny Crowther, Assistant Cook
Jenny owned her own cafe in Cyprus, and has always loved cooking. She began at Local Food Links as a General Assistant, and today she is an Assistant Cook, responsible for producing the main courses. She has natural flair for good cooking and seasonal ingredients, and she grows all her own vegetables at home.
Lynne Byrne, General Assistant
Lynne has spent her whole working life in educational catering. Lynne has worked for nurseries, primaries, secondaries and colleges - all in her home town of Salford before moving to West Dorset in 2007.
Pru Collins, Assistant Cook
Pru made her first cake aged 7 and has been a professional cook since 1969. She has been a chef in hotels all over Dorset, as well as managing pubs in Dorset and Sussex. She worked in the Army for a period, cooking thousands of meals three times a day, but now finds Local Food Links a great place to cook quality food.
Olivia Franklin, Assistant Cook
Olivia is Bridport born and bred. She went to catering college for two years when she left school, then moved to London and was a cook at Westminster City Hall in Victoria for five years. She then moved back to Dorset and cooked at The George in West Bay before having a son and cooking at Sunny Days for four and a half years. Olivia joined Local Food Links in October 2010.
Robert Sparrow, General Assistant
Robert has been in catering since 1991 and joined Local Food Links in April 2010. Robert is a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Choi Kwang Do and a chief instructor in this martial art.
Dan Staple
Dan has been in catering since 1991. He started as a sous-chef in restaurants and then became a baker for Moore's Biscuit Bakery where he stayed for 11 years. He left Moore's when his son was born in 2005 and became a full time dad for 4 years. Dan joined Local Food Links in January 2010.
Blandford kitchen
Jayne Fry, Kitchen Manager
Jayne started with Local food links when the Blandford Hub Kitchen opened. “It was great to be in at the start, it was fun getting the kitchen up and running,” she says.
Jayne has NVQs both in Food Preparation and Management, and has been in school meals since 1998, working her way up through a large company. When she left, she was managing a kitchen that catered for a school with over 1500 pupils.
“I’m very proud of the meals that we produce because of the quality of the ingredients that we use – locally sourced and a lot of organic produce and because of the talented team here in the kitchen. Also I think that the partnership that we have with the schools that we provide meals for is a good way of working. I also enjoy visiting the schools and meeting our customers.”
Cheryl Coles, Assistant Cook
Cheryl started at Local Food Links when it came to Blandford, and her previous experience in meals on wheels catering gives her a good working knowledge of the logistics of delivering hot meals.
Cheryl started as General Assistant. In the last year she has taken her NVQ in Food Preparation and was promoted to her current position.
“I enjoy making the cakes and puddings and working with the lovely ingredients that we use.”
Tracy Dawson, Cook
Tracy has been at Local Food Links in Blandford since it opened. She has worked in school meals catering for almost 10 years. Before Local Food Links she was a manager in a school kitchen, but she prefers to be hands on and really enjoying cooking.
“My role within the kitchen is to cook the main meals, and I have been told that I make a very good cake!”
Caroline Sykes, Assistant Cook
Caroline joined Local Food Links in April 2010. She was trained in Catering at college and has been in school catering for many years, working for a very large private school.
“I enjoy working here as I find it easy to produce nice food, because the ingredients that we use are so good."
Vickie Tatton, General Assistant
Vickie started at Local food Links in October 2010. “Before joining Local Food Links, I spent 6 months inputting data and it made me realise that I really enjoy working in catering - before that I had been working in a pub kitchen,” says Vickie.
“I prepare the vegetables for both main and vegetarian meals. It is lovely to work with fresh vegetables.”